Comey's magic words: 'Ain't my job!'
Sorry, but for a guy who has held down real jobs for decades, including at the Department of Defense, firing James Comey was a no-brainer. But the political pundits on the subject haven't benefitted from their own brainlessness.
Charles Krauthammer proves himself incapable on anything Trump. According to Krauthammer, Comey found himself in unprecedented circumstances during the election, in which he had to make up his own rules as he went along.
What law enforcement officer ever did that, outside North Korea or Inspector Clouseau?
According to Michael Barone at National Review, Comey's antics were to exact political revenge on Loretta Lynch and ultimately Obama and Clinton for putting him into the untenable position Krauthammer posits.
This takes Inspector Clouseau to the level of Blazing Saddles.
All Comey had to do is say, "Ain't my job!" Do the investigation and hand the results to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Let Lynch hang her political self by indicting Hillary Clinton or hang herself exonerating Hillary Clinton in that fabled court of public opinion. It's her noose either way. That's Lynch's problem.
What all the punditry neglects is that all the polls slated Hillary Clinton to be a shoe-in during the general election. Trump was the long shot.
The unprecedented situation Comey was looking at was investigating his probable future boss's boss for espionage and then being not so sure about who would win the election.
If Comey's intentions were good, but Lynch dismissed him from his position for refusing her deal with Bill Clinton on the tarmac, then the White Knight was all done doing good.
If Comey's intentions were simply that of a corrupt bureaucrat attempting to secure his position during a regime change, then he miscalculated.
Only James Comey knows which James Comey is real. But either way, Comey's choices were that of a high-level official in a corrupt regime.
Believe it or not, in federal service, "ain't my job" is a very real thing. It is respect for others who are qualified to deal with something outside one's own expertise, where one is not knowledgeable or even where one does not have authority.
Railroad your agenda into somebody else's fiefdom, and you are asking for a whole world of hurt that you didn't even know about. I did it. I was lucky. I had supervisors who understood. They bailed me out with other supervisors. I learned. Stay in your box. Some things are bigger than all of us.
There was nothing above Comey but the general election. But even at Comey's level, there are rules to the game. Lynch was in no position to exonerate Hillary Clinton any more than indict her, if Lynch wanted to continue as attorney general. But that was Lynch's problem.
"Ain't my job" is the First Big Federal Rule. Comey had a job description, like any federal employee. That's all he ever needed to extricate himself from this unprecedented situation Krauthammer and Barone talk about. If that doesn't work, then we're into storming the Bastille.
There was no good timing. Trump is still under FBI investigation for the alleged Russian collusion. He probably will be until 2020 if Democrats have their way.
Nobody with any sense walks into a new situation and imposes a new agenda. "Do no harm" is the first rule. Then fix what you can. This is the Second Big Federal Rule.
In my line of purely technical work, not much was expected of a new GS-12 for a year. Six months was fast-track. Jeff Sessions took over the entire Department of Justice three months ago and is just now starting to make newsworthy changes. That is "hit the ground running."
For the benefit of Democrats who ask "why now," that is why. Jeff Sessions is "fast-track."
If there is anything to be learned from all this, it is just how corrupt our political class is. We still have dedicated government employees who get just as furious as I ever got with the system that serves the nation. But we also have government employees and officials who are just as corrupt and technically bankrupt as anyone I ever got furious with.
I'm just as infuriated with the last budget, which excludes "the wall," as Ann Coulter is. But I am also grateful to whatever Providence there may be, which granted Donald Trump as our president rather than Hillary Clinton. Otherwise, none of us would have realized just how corrupt Washington, D.C. has really become.